Monday, September 04, 2006

Before FEMA and Brownie, There Was Chuck Quackenbush

If you aren’t from California, the name Chuck Quackenbush probably won’t ring a bell. If you lived in California during the 1990s that name will probably have you spewing out cusswords that would make a drill sergeant blush.

Quackenbush was the California Insurance Commissioner from 1994 until he fled with his tail between his legs in 2000. His response to the aftermath of a 1994 earthquake makes FEMA’s Katrina response look like an emergency landing by the United States Marines. If Brownie was “doing a heckuva job,” Quackenbush is Julius Caesar and Attila the Hun rolled into one.

After the 1994 earthquake in Northridge, CA, a lot of homeowners’ insurance claims were delayed or denied by their insurance companies. Insurance companies were facing a total of $3 billion in fines.

After several years of dithering, Quackenbush collected a total of several million dollars from insurance companies. In return for this HUGE reduction, insurance companies “donated” this money to several political foundations which were furthering Quackenbush’s career.

Quackenbush fled to Hawaii in 2000 and has pretty much stayed off the radar, until now. But like the proverbial bad penny, he’s turned up — in Florida.

He’s now a deputy sheriff in Lee County, FL. Those lucky people. California’s loss is Florida’s gain.

I can't forget Quackenbush. When he was elected, we were in the middle of settlements with an insurance company after losing our home in a natural disaster. All progress on our loss suddenly stopped. The adjusters told us if we didn't like it, we could complain to the department of insurance, and they would then LAUGH out loud. That was a long time ago; we were only able to afford a much smaller home more than a decade later. Our family will suffer financially and personally from this for the rest of our lives. No, Quackenbush is one name I will probably never forget. I doubt he is suffering as much as he made my family and many other disaster survivors to suffer.